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January Block Party Link Up!

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We are three to four months in to our Block Party InstaBee!  We have 6 hives buzzing, creating amazing blocks from our book the FreeSpirit Block Party!

To see how everyone is progressing, we are having a link up party!  Using the form below, add the photo of your favorite block you have made so far!  It can be your January block, your first block, or any inbetween.  Link up before January 31st, 11pm.  From all of the entries, we will use a random number generator for our first giveaway.  Paula of SewModernChicky has donated a $25 Gift Certificate to her online store!  Thank you Paula! Visit her shop and start planning your fabric loves now.

 

Inlinkz Link Party

FreeSpirit Block Party book will be debuted at Quilt Market!

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Our FreeSpirit Block Party InstaBee is up and running!

We have 6 hives buzzing, across the world! Quilters from the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, and Australia are participating.  Follow the #FSBlockPartyBee hashtag to see some amazing blocks being created and shared.  Did you miss the news about our FreeSpirit Block Party InstaBee?  Learn more HERE.

 

Most quilters will have heard of International Quilt Festival that occurs in Houston each year.  It is an amazing quilt show and one of the best in the country.  But do you know the week prior to Quilt Festival, is Quilt Market?  Quilt Market is when the quilt industry meets and shares everything about our favorite world.  Fabric companies, ruler makers (as in quilting rulers – not royalty, although we think some of them are!), designers, quilters, shop owners, and more come to Houston to learn what is happening in the industry.

The first day of Quilt Market is School House.  It is the premiere day, where companies debut new collections, tools, designers, patterns, and more.  School House opens with a major manufacturer presentations and then every 30 minutes there are up to 10 different mini presentations

you can attend and learn something new.  Including, our FreeSpirit Block Party book debut!  For those that follow Scott Fortunoff, he listed the school house sessions for all the Jaftex companies which now wonderfully includes FreeSpirit.  And our book is on the docket! Very exciting.  There is also a time block that is unannounced.  FreeSpirit is up to something! I wonder what it can be . .

Ok, so here is my big idea:

I had this in the car line, when I was flipping through my copy.  I had to do some planning and configuring to make sure I could pull this off before I announced it.  I am going to Houston Quilt Market and am going to have as many FreeSpirit designers that created a block for the book sign it! I have a list of 6 designers that will be present at market. Tula Pink, Anna Maria Horner, and more.  FreeSpirit was even so kind to send me a second copy to do this.

So you may be thinking: “So cool! I wish I could have a book with all my favorite designer’s autographs.”  Well guess what, you just might.  Notice above the word “second book.” Part of my big idea was Step 1: Get designer autographs in the book.  Step 2: Auction the book off on Instagram and give the funds to Project Night Night.  Pretty sweet right? You have a chance to win a copy of this book autographed and the proceeds are donated to a great charity!  Win Win!

Now our auction for the autographs will be open to anyone on Instagram.  I will have some of my new FreeSpirit Instagram friends share this as well so it reaches as many people as we can and in turn earn as much money for Project Night Night as it can.  I will post the book for auction when I return from Quilt Market and Quilt Festival. Auction will go live on Friday, November 9th and it will close on Sunday, November 11th at 7pm EST.

I’ll be taking photos at Market with the designers as they sign the book. And yes, I will be having them sign my copy – why wouldn’t I??

So, what do you think of my big idea? Who do you want me to see first?

FreeSpirit Block Party InstaBee!

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Hi everyone! I just received this amazing book this week: FreeSpirit Block Party.

 

This book is incredible! 40 Quilt blocks from your 20 favorite FreeSpirit Fabric Designers.  The blocks are at all sewing skill levels! I see straight beginner blocks, detailed patchwork, paper piecing, curves – incredible! Diamonds, squares, triangles, circles – every quilt block shape is included in these designs. You know what else I love about this book? I never realized how many FreeSpirit designers I love and follow! Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner, Kathy Doughtry, Tula Pink – just to name a few.

And of course, the designers used their own fabrics which makes the book just so pretty to look at.  I have a new favorite each time I look at this book, but currently am crushing on Mod Cabin by Amy Reber.  This is a paper piecing block design, which I don’t do a lot of. But for this design – I would!

Now there is a really wonderful aspect to this book that I need to mention.  100% of the proceeds of FreeSpirit Block Party go to Project Night Night.  This organization supplies care packages to homeless children. How wonderful is that?  No need to think that you have too many quilt books.  Here you can buy a new quilt book and know the proceeds are going to help children. A win-win for sure!

So here’s the thing – I love making blocks, I love making quilts. But sometimes it takes a long time, right? Do I really have time to make a new quilt with 12 blocks in it? I don’t know.  But what if I was in a Bee that helped me make my 12 blocks? The quilt would be done so fast!  And here are 40 blocks to choose from. These two ideas go hand-in-hand.  So I am proposing a FreeSpirit Block Party InstaBee!

Ok, you might be wondering “What is an InstaBee?”

I was part of the #ModernInstaBee in 2014 and loved it.  I ‘met’ some of my first Instagram quilty friends through it. It felt great learning how to make a block and sending it off to someone I know who loved the pattern and the colors.  And then when my month came up, so quickly I had 12 great blocks to make my daughter a quilt! Now finishing that quilt was another story, but hey – the blocks were all created in a month. Another cool connection – the author of Modern Bee-Quilts to Make with Friends, Lindsay Conner, is one of the compilers for this book!  It’s like it is meant to be a quilting ‘bee’.

You will be linked up in a ‘hive’ with a group of quilters. Your ‘bee hive’ will pick an order for who gets what month. Let’s pretend my Bee starts in October and I received the October month.  I would contact my Bee and tell them which block I want everyone to make and with what color scheme to use.  Each member can be as specific as they like but please note not everyone has the same fabric selection as others. You might be hoarding Tula Pink whereas your friend has a stash of Laura Heine. My hive then makes my selected block during the month and mails it to me by the end of the month. Poof – 12 blocks completed in one month! Then November comes along, and it’s November’s turn to make a block and send off to that person. And so on, until all  bee member blocks are created. You don’t have to be on Instagram to participate, but it will be the easiest to follow everyone on it!

So what do you think?

Do you want to be part of my FreeSpirit Block Party InstaBee?  I hope so!  You really never know how big these things can get. I’m hoping for 12, but wouldn’t 100 members be amazing?

Remember, FreeSpirit is donating the proceeds they receive from the book sales to Project Night Night.

The book is amazing, and so will be the InstaBee! Please Sign Up Here!

Here is a link to the book. If you have a local quilt shop who has the book, please support them! If not, please support me, lol. If you order through me I get a small affiliate rate. The little change I will receive from the affiliate link will help organize the bee for the coming year.  I hope you participate!

Need some more information to make your choice? FreeSpirit has you covered! Learn a little bit more about the book and the quilts with this video by FreeSpirit Director of Marketing Nancy Jewell. She is one of the book compilers.

One last thing. I do not work for FreeSpirit Fabrics (but wouldn’t that be awesome!) nor is this sponsored by them. This is just a fun idea I had to build community between quilters. Please follow me on Instagram @Handmade3D.   For the block party use the hashtag #FSBlockPartyBee  and please share with your friends!